Stalking the Atomic City

Life Among the Decadent and the Depraved of Chornobyl

De: Markiyan Kamysh, Hanna Leliv - translator, Reilly Costigan-Humes - translator

Narrado por: BJ Harrison

Since the Chornobyl nuclear disaster in April 1986, the area remains a toxic, forbidden wasteland. The zone has become a place for meditation at the edge of geography where you can lose yourself. As with all dangerous places, this terra incognita attracts a wild assortment of adventurers who climb over the barbed wire illegally to witness the aftermath of catastrophe in the flesh. Breaking the law here is a pilgrimage: a metamodern sacred experience that coexists with thrash.

Markiyan Kamysh, whose father worked as an on-site disaster liquidator of Chornobyl, works as a "stalker," guiding people who dare to venture into the disaster area for thrills. Kamysh tells us about thieves who hide in the abandoned buildings, the policemen who chase them, and the romantic utopists who have built families here, even as deadly toxic waste lingers in the buildings, playgrounds, and streams.

More than extraordinary guide to this alien world, Kamysh writes with a singular style that is both brash and bold, conferring an understated elegance to this dystopian reality. Stalking the Atomic City is a haunting account of what total autonomy could mean in our growingly fractured world.

©2015 Nora Druck (P)2022 Tantor

Fascinating, if sometimes unnecessarily “edgy”

Fascinating lifestyle, and I especially loved the dreamy, stream of consciousness moments where life just kind of transforms around the narrator. Unfortunately, for all the beautiful language used, there is often also quite tiresome cliche or “look how cool I am” edginess to the writing style, which is totally unnecessary considering how innately cool the book already is. Narrator Harrison does a great job. [AUDIBLE]

すごい生活、色んな言葉遣いが綺麗、けどつまらない言葉遣いもよくある

Okay

Not sure what all the hype was about…some homeless guy wandering around the Exclusion Zone finding existential meaning in the most contaminated place on Earth. Sorry dude we can’t all just wander around smoking cigarettes and drinking while burning people’s contaminated possessions and judging others who don’t see the simplicity of life as you do. Author comes off a little elitist and preachy to those of us who just don’t “get it”. I’ve been to Chernobyl, Pripyat, and the Exclusion Zone and while you can see the beauty of a time frozen and forgotten, I’m not going to be judged by by bum who trespasses in an area highly contaminated with radiation and ransacked by thieves. He’s entitled to his opinion, but don’t be fooled…he’s no Kerouac or Hemingway.

Recommended

Really an interesting book.

It's so cheerful, compared to the author's photograph. I don't know what it is about Russians and Poles, but you see this angry look a lot. It's a lot more poetic than you'd think, again, by looking at him.

I had a hard copy from the library, trying to clear off my "for later" list to under 1,000 titles. I don't ever manage it, but...goals...so, shorter items and movies first. They're easier to make up your mind about than something long, where it might take a bit to really get moving.

Found this here, free, which means I can listen and make dinner and walk the dogs and be done in short order. It's sort of like a small cannoli. Just the perfect, bite-sized length.

I normally listen at at least 1.85+ speed. I might speed up for boring parts that are repetitive or court dialog (Ann Rule). I didn't do that here.